Mystical misty meandering

Cooler weather today over Cape Town, with high cloud cover becoming foggy later. Eerie blasts from foghorns on passing ships slithered ashore under the wispy fog,  resonating from the mirror-like surface of the sea to scatter and fade away among the tumbled boulders along the low-tide shoreline. A sudden crash and froth of white brought a lone surfer into view as he rode his board smoothly into the bay, his stance relaxed as the low, slow swell carried him along almost to the slipway. As he clambered through the shallows, his exhaustion was evident as he could barely lift his board from the water and had lost a bootie. Clearly, there was a strong sea lurking behind the fog, and a handful of young men stood tentatively at the Ledge, undecided on whether to launch themselves into the unknown.

The rooftops, trees and distant mountains, shrouded in the fog, hung suspended like castles in the air, adding a mystical quality to the strangely silent scene. An ebbing tide swept the kelp beds to and fro, their tips alarmingly like a frantic signal from a swimmer in distress to the unpractised eye. Not a bird was in flight, not a rat was in sight. Even the waves fell silent as the fog drew in closer, carrying an unwelcome chill. Time to turn our backs on the sea and seek shelter under the ancient milkwoods over the rise.